Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Scope brands vs old eyes

Have any of you "People of age" noticed that one scope vs another works better for focusing with old eyes?

For example, I've always used Leupold scopes but recently have found that I'm having a hard time focusing on the crosshairs. I don't need prescription glasses and just use 2.50x readers up close, my long range vision is good. I have to turn the eyepiece all the way out to get it close.

So what I found is that I can focus a lot better with a Swarovski Z3 scope. I havent tried any others so wanting to hear from you "olders".

I don’t have any issues focusing crosshairs on my Burris, Leica, and Kahles scopes. Leuies not so bad once I get them tunes in. Happy Trails

Most folks are CLUELESS,on how to set up bino's or a 'scope and it's very typically HILARIOUS,to watch the attempts!

Hint................

Before or after bolting them in Chinese made rings with plastic inserts?

Now that I'm in my early 50's, my vision has changed quite a bit and I've grown to appreciate nicer optics, most of my scopes are either swaro, zeiss or Kahles.

Why don’t you try sending one of your Leupolds off to their custom shop and try a heavy Duplex? I have a heavy Duplex in my 1.5-5x20 Vari-X lll and there is no missing it. It is no target scope, but it sure is visible. That would be cheaper than replacing the scope. Or if your vision has changed maybe try readjusting the focus of the crosshair. Another option would be to opt for a scope with a first plane reticle because It looks like the crosshair gets larger as the power is increased. Actually it covers the same amount at any power setting only that it appears heavier.

Do you think it might be time to see a GOOD eye doctor? I'm 73 have had double cataract surgery and was so near sighted before the cataract surgery that without my coke bottle glasses I was legally blind. I can now hunt and drive without glasses but need them to reed. The only thing I can't do is shoot a peep sight any more as I can't focus close enough to even tell there is an opening in the sight, it is just a fuzzy blob. I can see it with low power reading glasses but then the it is hard to see the target. All scopes work just fine for me.

It is hard to tell when your eyesight is failing when it changes in small amounts. When I was near sighted it always amazed me how little branches appeared in the trees when I got a new prescription. I never noticed them slowly disappearing as my eyesight got worse.

Newer scopes seem to have more threads for the eyepiece than older ones, hence more adjustment on tap. I can get all of them I'm using focused so I don't need glasses to shoot with them, but the older ones are perilously close to the end. Scopes with the Euro-style eyepiece are better, I think.

He will be here all week folks......

Buy optics labeled as HD

I have nothing constructive to say. I’ll still offer my input that everyone else is STUPID and INCOMPETENT. Hint....

LAUGHING!?!

thanks for the replies.............................I've been around guns and have done minor gunsmithing for many years....So I do know how to adjust the focus on my scopes...dont mount them in cheap China rings....and know how to adjust my binocs. Thats why I mentioned that my Leupold eyepieces were screwed out to the max.

Been to an eye Dr also....He half heartedly recommended laser correction on my shooting eye (right) but havent opted to go there yet.

Just hoping that someone had done some research already..

Switching to zeiss (both Diavari and Conquest) rather than Leupold helped me. My aging eyes can't resolve complicated MOA/mildot/stadia line reticles very well, particularly in poor light, so I stay with duplex.

Also extremely nearsighted; I have gone in three times over the years to see if if I can get laser surgery, but I am not a suitable candidate.

I'm 63 years old, use 1.5X readers up close and have used vintage Leupolds, Redfields and Burris scopes. Somewhat of a pain to loosen the lock ring and adjust the focus on the eyepiece as my vision has changed. The last 3-4 scopes I've bought, Bushnell Trophy XLTs, have all had the "fast focus" eyepiece which is pretty slick.

try to find an eye doc who is a shooter. had the same problem before i got glasses thought i was going to have the eyepiece fall off i had backed it of so far. got spec's and what do you know had to screw eyepiece back in where factory ha d put it.

Ed

I am a very near-sighted 73. I had to give up on my Leupolds about 10 years ago as I was running the eyepiece out to its maximum adjustment without being fully in focus. I need a fast focus eyepiece.

In the last couple of years, I can't maintain the fine inner lines on the German #4 reticles in focus. I also can't focus most red dot sights. I mentioned it to my optometrist. He said the problem was probably astigmatism.

I have found that I need a very dark and well defined reticle. On one brand, I replaced my German No. 4 reticles with German No. 1, which stay in focus for me but are really hard to find.

I find the T-plex reticle on the Tract Toric easy to focus and stay focus. The original Zeiss Conquest Z-Plex and No. 4 reticles were very good in this regard. I had a GPO Passion 3-9x40 for a short while (one of my nephew's daughters needed a new scope) which had a very clear and well defined reticle.

Good luck,

GrimJim

Another vote for the Zeiss Diavari 30 mm tube scope as a 1.5-6x42 is my favorite and first plane reticle, but another thought occurs to me. I was at the range this week shooting my .22 that has a Leupold 3-9x33 AO rimfire scope on it and everything was clear as a bell at the 10 yard red squirrel range that it is sighted for. Then I moved the target out to 50 yards and that crosshair fuzzed out. A quick twist of that AO ring and everything was clear again. Maybe if you can’t get enough adjustment out of the ocular lens, an adjustable parallax objective scope might help. I’m far sighted and don’t wear glasses so I’m just guessing.

In my experience a quick-focus eyepiece, or side-parallax adjustment or A.O., helps older hunters more than a specific brand.

The problem is related more to the more limited ability for older eyes to change focus than anything else. Adjusting the focus quickly, by whatever means, makes far more difference.

I've also found the quick focus eye piece to work better for me after I had to start wearing glasses, bifocals and now trifocals...

https://healthy-ojas.com/eye/eye-exercises-tibetan.html

http://www.i-see.org/gottlieb/presbyopia_chart.pdf

Start doing these, practice with your rifle ghost rings and focus on your front handgun sight every day. In about three months you’ll be seeing like a 39 year old and after a year a 25 year old.

If you don’t use your feet, knees, and pecker, you will lose it too.